Had my first meeting with my editor tonight. Absolutely terrific! Im afraid it went on for three and a half hours, which is kind of amazing. We really hit it off. I sort of prepared myself for someone who was going to challenge all my usage and insist on X number of changes, and then hand me back my manuscript and more or less leave me holding the baby. I would then filter their (cursory but clinically correct) perspective through my own ideas and make the final decision, answerable only to myself for the final outcome. Im afraid Ive rather under estimated the degree to which editors and writers can collaborate. I assumed there needed to be a great deal of tension and differentiation in the relationship, and I was prepared for that. But thats not what happened at all. She wanted to know why I chose each term and what each term meant. In most cases she immediately grasped the idea presented. In some cases I didnt make it clear enough, and in some cases there was no real explanation at all in the text. At first I _didnt_ want to explain anything to her, because I wanted to know whether she would grasp the ideas presented, but later I realized that she needs to know what Im thinking in order to be able to advise me for usage and clarity. She understands the idea of delayed explanations common in SF, but she also understands the expectations of the modern reader. She created something called a Style Sheet which is a brilliant invention that I should have thought of myself about a year ago. Anyway, it lists every uncommon usage in the book, divided into orthographic and topical categories, so that each term can be codified as to how it will be used in every case. So I dont know if she was surprised or not, but I had an answer for every question. Everything in Firadis means something, even if its not always precisely explained. Theres no techno-babble. So then the question becomes is this going to be explained at some point? and/or how important is this to the story? So there was a great deal more flexibility and give-and-take between us than I assumed would be the case based on our first exchange of emails. Contrary to my previous expectations, she didnt demand that every usage be immediately comprehensible. At the same time, she pointed out a lot of things that were unclear and/or confusing. Heres a little excerpt: Her: So, here you have umm-naqm, and its not explained what that means. What does it mean? Me: Well, umm-naqm means mother of vengeance, but it doesnt literally mean that. What Vari is saying here is that Sufiri is just a really mean, angry person. Her: Ok, well, is there a way that we can just put in mother of vengeance? Maybe right after he says it? Me: Well, as I said, its not to be taken literally, its an idiomatic expression. And I can tell you, anyone who knows either Arabic or Hebrew is going to clue into that immediately. Theyll understand perfectly what that means. Her: Anyone who knows Hebrew or Arabic... which is... you know... no one. Me: [sheepish] Right! I should actually write for English speakers, since, you know, Im writing in English. Yes. Good point... (!!!!) We did some cutting right there in the coffee shop and will probably do more later. She shared with me some of her experience as an editor. Apparently there are two sins committed by writers when they deal with editors. One is being uninterested in any sort of improvements, or touchy, the other is irresponsibility— youre the editor, you fix it! type of thing. She was _impressed_ by the extent to which I had sought out and implemented feedback from beta-readers and angel-of-mercy-friend/editors. So all of you who have read and commented on the book have contributed to its improvement, some (you know who you are!) to an extraordinary degree. And its paid off. She said the book is already in great shape.
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 06:35:05 +0000
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